Credit Bank Limited is sinking deeper into scandal as damning allegations of money laundering, insider fraud and dubious land deals tear apart its credibility and place its management on the spot. The lender, once viewed as a trusted partner for businesses, is now being painted as a financial laundromat for politicians, crooked developers and rogue insiders.
The bank’s name first surfaced during the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, when MPs accused it of acting as a conduit for laundering millions he used to acquire questionable properties. Though no ruling has been made, the link to Gachagua tainted Credit Bank’s reputation and opened the floodgates of scrutiny.
That scrutiny widened when a Nairobi businesswoman revealed she was conned of Sh36.5 million after depositing Sh30 million into her Credit Bank account to secure a Standby Letter of Credit. She was directed to pay more money to an “agent” working with bank insiders, only to be handed forged documents and left empty-handed. One suspect, Lilian Wangui Odwoma, is in court, but the Directorate of Criminal Investigations has turned its sights on staff within the bank. CEO Betty Korir is under mounting pressure to explain how such theft happened under her watch.
The Jevanjee Estate scandal has cast an even darker shadow. Jabavu Village Ltd, linked to Hass Petroleum bosses Abdinasir Hassan and Abdulkadir Hussein, used a public land title deed as collateral to secure a Sh1.9 billion loan from National Bank, even as it battled insolvency proceedings over debts owed to Credit Bank. The timing was outrageous: a High Court had just set aside Credit Bank’s statutory demand, only for Jabavu to mortgage public land months later. Nairobi MCAs have since ordered NBK to freeze the deal, calling it an assault on public trust.
In Machakos, Credit Bank stands accused of inflating the value of land in Mavoko, even roping in parcels belonging to the local water and sewerage company, to recover over Sh800 million from Chinese developer Zeyun Yang’s Edermann Properties. The dispute is now in court, but the brazenness of the valuations has raised eyebrows across the industry.
Worse still are whistleblower claims of a Sh1.5 billion laundering racket run out of the bank’s Westlands branch by managers Nancy Kung’a and Esther Kariuki in cahoots with businessman Alfred Mola. The funds were allegedly moved through shell accounts and withdrawn in cash with impunity.
Credit Bank’s scandals point to a rotten culture where directors and executives cut deals with friends and politicians, gambling with billions while exposing depositors to immense risk. In the eyes of financial crime experts, the bank has ceased being a trusted lender and become a hub for fraud, dirty money and reckless land schemes.
The silence from CEO Betty Korir and the board has been deafening, but pressure is building from Parliament, investigators and the Central Bank. For many, Credit Bank is no longer just a lender in trouble. It is a national disgrace – and unless regulators act, the cost will be borne not by the cartels at its helm, but by ordinary Kenyans.
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